The Song of Songs (of Solomon) is otherwise called the Song of Solomon. It has also been called Canticles, which simply means that it is hymns or songs. This book is a combination of poems/songs that display the affection between a Shepherd and a Shulamite woman. There is some debate about what Shulamite means. Some think it is a name from the village in which this woman lived. Others think it is a name representing the Hebrew word for peace - Shalom. Others think it is a woman from Jerusalem. Either way, it seems to be a Hebrew woman who is betrothed to a Shepherd (notice my capitalization of the 'S').
We don't truly know if this is a book authored by Solomon, but Solomon is mentioned in this book a few times. The fact that he is mentioned could possibly mean that this is in the tradition of Solomon. If Solomon did indeed write the poems in this book, I very much hope he was convicted by the sole devotion of the Shulamite to the Shepherd as he thought about his 700 wives.
One of the biggest considerations for this book is its interpretation. In more recent times, many scholars have proposed (based on other like poetry discovered) that this is simply a selection of poems between two people in love. This is not the way this has been traditionally understood in church history. The Jews traditionally understood this book talking about Israel's relationship in covenant with God. In the fulfillment of Christ, the new covenant church has then seen this book through new covenant eyes as a beautiful display of Christ and the church - much the same way that Paul speaks of marriage in Ephesians 2 and points to Genesis 2 as the origin of this great mystery.
In our time there has been somewhat of a revolt against considering texts like this as pointing to Christ. This modern phenomenon is one that embraces a more literal scientific understanding of the text that original readers would never have had. When you approach Song of Songs, and any book of the bible, we must always remind ourselves of two important truths. The bible is not simply a collection of books written by human authors. If it were so, we would be reading 66 books in disconnection to each other collected over 1500 years. The bible has a cohesion and thread that runs through every book with particular emphasis that shows that it has one Divine Author over every book. This Divine Author (God) has written his whole book to us with a big theme and purpose for our salvation and his glory.
The second important truth is that Jesus has told us that all of the Scriptures are written in a way that points to his death and resurrection (Luke 24:26-27,44-47). This is the way that Song of Songs was written. For us to deny this would be to deny the consistency of the Divine Author, the words of Christ, and the historical understanding of the church. For this reason, it is a ridiculous notion to me that we would deny that Song of Songs is about Christ and his church.
When we realize that the genre of poetry speaks in beautiful imagery and symbols, Song of Songs is a glorious sight to behold indeed. Those pictures point to much about Christ and us as his bride. If we are careful not to import the emotional and superficial romanticism of our time into the text, we see a stunning love and devotion that Christ has for his church and the church has for our Shepherd King.
To read Song of Solomon is to realize the beauty of Jesus and his love for those he saved who are called his bride. We can echo the words of the Shulamite woman.
Song of Songs 5:16 - His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.